I decided to start a topic where I can post Messages I feel God wants me to share. Today, While I think thinking big is good, it is often better to start small in the everyday things you can change around you. For example, some people want to go over seas and spread the gospel. OK, then what have you done in your community? How have you impacted their lives?

Sometimes, God calls us not to go overseas, but to follow him through our simple, daily interactions with others. Think of all the people you know, your co-workers, neighbors, the people you pass by when walking on the street, those who hold up signs asking for food saying they are out of food. How do we represent God to these people?

I'm not saying this to guilt trip others into acting, or to discourage you from trying to act big. I am in the same boat. Instead, I encourage you to put into practice a saying I fully believe in, "Do what you can, and leave the rest to God." I believe even the smallest amount of faith and obedience will bring about great change.

An encouraging word here and there can start out small, but can lead to bigger opportunities. A simple kindness like offering to pay for a person's lunch and eating with them could open doors to learn more about that person. Jesus says in the Bible, "For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

I don't want a mountain to move and be thrown in the sea. But if such a small amount of faith can move a mountain, followed with obedience, then what chance does our daily life have against such a small seed of faith and obedience.

Easter happened last week. And I missed most of it, due to not having an active church that I'm able to attend, what with working 4 am -12:30. However thanks to my online pastor, I was able to attend today.

The lesson was on Acts 10:34-43, and was titled the Best Story Wins. Jesus' death and resurrection is the best story that ever exists. But that story also points to

Acts 10:43, "All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

The resurrection message is that we all need forgiveness for our sins. However as people professing to be Christians, we don't own up to all of our sins. Many Christians call our sins mistakes instead. "I made a mistake, acted on too little information, misjudged, was careless, an accident."

But in truth, sin is you've done something, broken something between me and this God. It means the person knew something was wrong but made a choice to do that anyway.

The question is, am I a mistaker, a person who makes mistakes, goes and tries to fix things yourself and not bring God into it? Or am I a sinner, who needs outside help?

I think we also get caught up in this idea, that if we go to church, read our bible, pray every day, be a good neighbor, follow all the 10 commandments, all these things will, as the pastor says, "build a stairway to heaven." I had an amazing Bible teacher in High School. He had me write a list of why I should be allowed in heaven. I pondered, came up with a few small things, then agonizingly realized the truth that my pitiful couple actions could never balance out the many, many bad choices, mistakes that have hurt others, and all other things that I have sinned in, that I have missed the mark in. I wrote that down on my paper and turned it in, expecting to earn a Failing grade.

You know what grade I got on that paper? I got a B. I was so confused that I approached my teacher after class and asked, basically what the heck? Paraphrasing what he said, since I can't remember exactly what he said, 'You were exactly right. The good things you've done here on this earth aren't enough to earn your way to heaven.'

Imagine my confusion for a second there, I wrote down the right answer by accident, he continued, 'That is why we need a savior, because we have sinned against a perfect God.'

That, right there, blew my mind. I think that was the moment I was truly saved, when I realized just how deep and dividing my sin was. Nothing I can do can ever fix even...one...sin. Because I am no longer perfect and can no longer meet God's required standards.

When Jesus Died on the cross for my sins, he said, "Father, why have you forsaken me." God looked away from Jesus, because he was a perfect God. He could not look at Jesus because he had taken on all the sins of everyone who believes throughout time from beginning to end. He took them so that God could look at, for give and accept us as his Children.

Now does that mean those are things we do not need to do, that we should not do because it is pointless? Going to church, reading our Bible, Praying every day, all those things I mentioned earlier are things we should still be doing to remain healthy Christians. Keep doing them.

Romans 6:1-2, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?"

But remember,

Ephesians 2:8-9 "8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

The message I took away from this is that, I AM A SINNER. I sin every day no matter how hard I try not to. And only God can save me from my sin. So I ask you, are you a mistaker...or are you a sinner?

Please take the time to watch the video. You may take something else away from it that is equally important.

Another video from the pastor I watch. It is actually the third video in his series, it talks about the vanity of Accomplishment. I think it is very valid in this day and age, especially in America where I live.

One of the quotes he uses is sums this video nicely, spoken by Dr. James Dobson, the person who started the Focus on the Family Organization:

I have concluded that the accumulation of wealth, even if I could achieve it, is an insufficient reason for living. When I reach the end of my days, a moment or two from now, I must look backward on something more meaningful than the pursuit of houses and land and machines and stocks and bonds. Nor is fame of any lasting benefit. I will consider my earthly existance to have been wasted unless I recall a loving family, a consistent investment in the lives of people, and the earnest attempt to serve the God who made me. Nothing else makes much sense.

Great men and women of God, Have you ever considered what it means to be disciples of God? Do you consider yourselves disciples? Many times I look at my fellow believers and even myself, and I find us lacking. Look at the examples of those who came before us in the Bible. Hebrews 11, the whole chapter, talk about those who came before the disciples of the new testament:

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two,[a] they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

I listened to a sermon that was recommended to me by the same person who recommended the previous church:

Do you want to live a life that's pleasing to God? To walk in faith and assured in God, in God's love for you. The way to do this, according to Paul, is through discipline and obedience with an eternal perspective in mind. However that doesn't mean working to earn your salvation, it can't be done.

Honestly, I have difficulty keeping that eternal perspective in my own mind. I am...weak, ineffective. I enjoy playing games, spending my time reading, wasting my time on trivial pursuits. I can't even measure up to my standards. Imagine trying to meet an infinite God's standards. It can't be done.

The call of Jesus is to die to yourself, to declare I can't do this, meet God's standard and say "I need help." And let God change you. You will never regret it.

as well as the Life and Faith Page, which at the bottom has some practical answers for difficulties I myself have struggled with. I hope to put them to use in my own life: http://www.klove.com/ministry/faith/

I know some people still check the page, and I hope for a revival of this group one day perhaps. I will pray for that and for all your safety.